Object Details
- Artist
- Walker Evans, 3 Nov 1903 - 10 Apr 1975
- Sitter
- James Rufus Agee, 27 Nov 1909 - 16 May 1955
- Exhibition Label
- Born Knoxville, Tennessee
- The Great Depression’s impact on the United States heightened interest in examinations of American poverty. In 1936, Fortune magazine sent its staff reporter James Agee and photographer Walker Evans to Alabama to collaborate on an article about the plight of impoverished tenant farmers. Fortune, however, never published the article. Agee and Evans then devoted much of the next several years to turning their material into the book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Published in 1941 and illustrated with photographs by Evans, the volume is a blend of journalistic narrative, poetry, and personal musings. While the book initially met with mostly negative responses, today it is widely respected as a groundbreaking work.
- A reviewer of books and films for many years, Agee later turned to writing novels and screenplays, and in 1958, he was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for A Death in the Family (1957).
- Nacido en Knoxville, Tennessee
- El impacto de la Gran Depresión en Estados Unidos avivó el interés en el estudio de la pobreza en el país. En 1936, la revista Fortune envió a su reportero James Agee y al fotógrafo Walker Evans a Alabama para que colaboraran en un artículo sobre la triste situación de los aparceros empobrecidos. Sin embargo, Fortune nunca publicó el artículo. Agee y Evans dedicaron gran parte de los años siguientes a transformar ese material en el libro Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (Elogiemos ahora a los hombres famosos). Publicado en 1941 e ilustrado con fotografías de Evans, el volumen es una mezcla de narrativa periodística, poesía y reflexiones personales. Aunque la recepción inicial fue mayormente negativa, el libro es hoy respetado como una obra pionera.
- Luego de ser crítico literario y cinematográfico durante muchos años, Agee se dedicó a escribir novelas y guiones de películas. En 1958 se le otorgó póstumamente el Premio Pulitzer de ficción por A Death in the Family (Una muerte en la familia, 1957).
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- 1937 (printed 1974)
- Object number
- NPG.76.65
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 22.1 × 17.4 cm (8 11/16 × 6 7/8")
- Mount: 50.2 × 37.5cm (19 3/4 × 14 3/4")
- Mat: 22 × 16 cm (8 11/16 × 6 5/16")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- James Rufus Agee: Male
- James Rufus Agee: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer
- James Rufus Agee: Arts and Culture\Literature\Writer\Poet
- James Rufus Agee: Arts and Culture\Journalism and Media\Journalist\Reporter\Magazine
- James Rufus Agee: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Film\Film critic
- James Rufus Agee: Literary awards\Pulitzer Prize
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.76.65
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4839bbae4-9a87-4a3a-a3d5-6df282081f36
